The present invention relates generally to silo cleaning devices and particularly to devices for dislodging impacted material in silos.
Wood products, such as saw dust and wood chips, are typically loaded into the top of a silo by an overhead conveyer and removed by a chain conveyer, plate feeder, or star feeder at the bottom of the chip mass or through an opening at the bottom of the silo. The wood products in storage thus pass from the top to the bottom as the silo is emptied. Often the wood chips or sawdust become impacted and form bridges which block their passage, preventing the emptying of the silo. The wood chips forming such bridges are usually either inaccessible from below the chip mass or too dangerous to dislodge from below, and it is therefore desirable to dislodge such bridges from above.